Ace’s Bomber Jacket

May 19, 2011

Inspired by a newbie thread about patches on Modern Buddy, I finally tracked down the source of a particularly awesome JPEG I came across a few weeks ago. Turns out the JPEG was just the tip of the iceberg of Ace’s Jacket Cosplay Breakdown. Anyone stuck home watching Dr. Who on PBS in the late 80s, I bet you’re with me on this one. I wanted a scooter in 1986, but I wanted a Honda, thanks to Adam Ant and Lou Reed. I didn’t know anything about scooter culture back then, but man, did I want a bomber jacket with a bunch of random patches.

When I was a kid, before I even wanted a scooter (ha), I started collecting NASA mission patches. I think I had most patches from the mid-’70s to the early shuttle missions before I lost interest. Some were bought at the Smithsonian and various museum gift shops. Some were ordered via ads in nerd magazines and mail order catalogs. No idea where they all went. I probably put them in a garage sale or gave them away when I was a surly “too cool for that stuff” teen. Now I miss them, of course.